Double inverted practice...

[speedplay]

Yes, it's that time of the year again

Every year, right before the new season starts I get tempted to try out playing with a double inverted set up, simply because I'm tired of getting beaten by my team mates/practice partners who are used to the anti and can exploit the weaknessess it have.

So, this year, I glued up a bat, T05 and Juic 999 Elite Nano that I had stuffed away in my box of used rubbers.

I was expecting to get hammered, cause, a quick summary, I begun playing with a double inverted set up and used it for ~1 year. I then moved on to LP and used them for about 2 years and I've now been playing with anti for more then 2 years. As you can see, I really haven't spent much time playing with double inverted.

I was expecting to have HUGE problems receiving serve, cause even if I do this with inverted every now and then, I can pick to use the anti if I'm hesitating on the spin. Also, most players who know I use anti don't serve with much spin towards me. To my big surprise, there was no major failure when it came to receiving serve! Sure, I misread some, but that probably evened out with the serves I could attack with the inverted, so no big deal.
 
I was also expecting to have problems to defend my self from the bh wing. Well, some stuff is easier with anti, but some other stuff sure is more effective with inverted. With inverted, I could block aggressive and it was WAY easier to use it to "fish" with when I was forced away from the table. Downside was, it was a lot harder to use to chop with. Result it wasn't an advantage nor disadvantage to use inverted, it was simply a different way to play.
 
My results of the night was also simillar to my results with anti.
 
Now, the question is, should I be happy about this? After all, I have proven that it's not the rubber that makes me the player I am, as I could do the same results with inverted.
 
Or, should I be upset about this, since I've practiced with anti for more then 2 years, and 2 years with LP that bare some similarities to it, but I haven't developed my game enough to make it better with these rubbers then it is with inverted.
 
As for now, I'm keeping the anti on my primary set up, but I will continue to work with a double inverted set up.

[blocker]

My reply is probably not hard to predict . Of course you should stick with inverted both sides. Two main reasons: (1) you have limited scope for improvement with anti - over a certain level its just too easy to play against. (2) It's much more fun playing with inverted both sides - you can have far better rallies and don't get pinned down playing awkward limiting anti shots.

I'm not sure if it the case with you Speedy but I have seen so many players who start to learn TT and then experience difficulty playing BH's and/or returning serves. Then, instead of actually learning decent BH's or how to return serves, they whip on a piece of anti or LP  for a quick fix and never rise above a certain (not so high) level. 

I haven't seen a video of you Speedy but it sounds like you chop a bit but are able to hit ok from both wings. If you are going to chop you really shouldn't use anti. Once you are chopping back from the table anti is a death trap - better to use LP.

Burn your anti, put inverted both sides, work on your game and believe that you can become a much stronger player than you are. You are keen and perceptive - unless your technique is horrendous there is just no reason why you can't rise through the grades at a decent rate. 

[Der Echte]

Play two months daily with this setup and tell me how you feel. I would say it will probably much better than now.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

If my aim was to keep rising up the grades greatly, I'd probably go back to double inverted sometime soon (except I'd need to magically get a better knee to go with it). When I have a hit with double inverted I know I can do a lot more with my BH than I do with LP. But the fact is I have to play within my capabilities and I also have fun playing with LP. So ask yourself why you are playing with Anti and why you play the game at all. Is your enjoyment gained from rising through the ranks or is it from the style you play with Anti? If you want to continue to improve (which seems important to you from what I can tell) then you should focus on double inverted. If you go that path and find it less enjoyable to play as a style you can always come back to Anti again. The only thing is if you start your new regional season off with double inverted you will lose the spectre of being the "evil anti player" and may lose some respect from opponents initially. Its then up to you to regain it by doing more with the dual inverted game than they expect you to. If you are doing as well with dual inverted as with anti, this shouldn't be a problem and the more you play with the new setup the better you should get. You really should have made this decision about 4-5 months ago I think and the questions in your mind would already be answered during your "off" season.

[blocker]

The only thing is if you start your new regional season off with double inverted you will lose the spectre of being the "evil anti player" and may lose some respect from opponents initially. Its then up to you to regain it by doing more with the dual inverted game than they expect you to.

Quite true Reb however Speedy is (presumably) aiming to play at a somewhat higher standard than he currently does and so against those stronger players he may not be seen as the "evil anti player" but rather as the "anti bunny".   Also, one would hope that with general improvement with inverted he should eventually be able to comfortably contend with players in his current level whom he describes as being not too strong.

[speedplay]

Blocker,

You are right, it wasn't hard to predict your answer

Now, as for the level thing, we have a player at the club who uses anti and I know that regardless of what rubber I ever get to use, I'll never reach his level. He has beaten player's who play in the second highest league in Denmark and lost in 5 to a player who played in the Swedish top division 3-4 years previous to their meeting. So, if I don't improve, it's not because of the limitations of anti.

I agree that LP are better for chopping then anti, but I've not found any LP that goes well with my blade, and I'm not going to trade away my Wavestone. Also, not sure how familiar you are with anti, but there is 2 different kinds of anti, the classic anti that is very slick and hard and does nothing but reversing the spin, then the new version, which is a lot softer and actually allows you to put spin on the ball. Not as much as with grippy LP, but still enough to make it deceptive. Actually, there is a third kind, which have some grip to the top sheet, but I don't like that in anti.

Der_Echte,as I said, I'll continue to us it for practice, cause even if I don't end up using it in comp, it will help me develop my bh which will be useful when I twiddle.
 
Reb, you say you would pick double inverted if you wanted to raise in level, yet you have sky rocketed through the grades and now play at a much higher level with LP then you ever did with inverted... So my question to you is, are you sure you would be a better player with double inverted?
 
Blocker, back to you again, as I forgot, yes, I was one of those who had problems, not so much with my bh, but I was ripped to pieces by a good server. Also, my natural style was very defensive, I prefered to back away from the table and play on safety rather then to finish the point my self. So, why not use the most suitable equipment for that kind of game? Now, this have helped me develop a great ball sense, but it have also given me time to work on my fh, with out having to worry about my bh to much and my fh is now an offensive weapon I seek to use as often as possible and the main idea with an eventual change is to become more offensive and get better use from my fh.
 
Oh, Reb, I know, I should have done this a long time ago, but it's always like this, I enjoy a good season, so I continue with the anti, then I play against those who are familiar with anti and starts thinking about double inverted. So, for this season, I'll use anti, but keep on practising with double inverted.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

Reb, you say you would pick double inverted if you wanted to raise in level, yet you have sky rocketed through the grades and now play at a much higher level with LP then you ever did with inverted... So my question to you is, are you sure you would be a better player with double inverted?

For me personally, I think using inverted BH would not have helped me improve the way I have. I have actually gone further than I expected to, but I doubt I can now go much further (and not all that interested to). LP suits my limitations on movement and I still get players making comments about its trickiness. The guy I just lost to last Monday came up to me as I arrived last night and said to me "I've been thinking a lot about your LP since last week, I've can't remember ever playing against someone who I have had to think so hard about which side they have hit the ball with". Wish he had mis-thought by one more point when I was 12-11 up in the 5th set So this illustrates to me that LP has certainly helped me raise my level.

Could I go higher if I wanted to? (when I say higher I mean top 2 or 3 grades at Dandy) I doubt it. My body is already showing me more problems by the amount of training I am having to do to keep competitive at this level. If I used double inverted now I'm confident I could play better with it than I used to. I've proven this to myself a number of times I've hit with it. My BH technique is way better than it used to be because of the hitting technique I have developed with LP. However, the cost on my body would be too much and I wouldn't sustain it. So its about balance for me. For you however I think its a different story. I know you have a knee injury but it does not come across as being near as bad as mine (having had arthritis in mine for over 10 years now).

In theory for me using double inverted would help me improve further, but in practice other forces would then come into play to prevent that. I don't think you have the same limitations as me. And being 10 years younger I'm sure is of help in your quest.

[blocker]

Now, as for the level thing, we have a player at the club who uses anti and I know that regardless of what rubber I ever get to use, I'll never reach his level. He has beaten player's who play in the second highest league in Denmark and lost in 5 to a player who played in the Swedish top division 3-4 years previous to their meeting. So, if I don't improve, it's not because of the limitations of anti.

I'm not sure that this necessarily true. Whilst it is of course possible to get to a decent level with anti in many/most cases I think it  makes it more difficult to do so - the higher up you go the more the negatives outweigh the positives. (Using similar reasoning we can observe that Hasegawa got to be World Champ using a weird grip but if others copied that grip it would probably hinder their game rather than help it.) Of course I haven't seen you play so anti might somehow fit you like a glove however if that was the case it would be the exception rather than the rule.

 

[speedplay]

Seeing as I already make roughly the same results with inverted, I doubt that Anti could be described as perfect for me, but, I still maintain that it isn't anti that set the bar for me, it's my own ability to use it.

Might also add, the results are purely against regular practice partners, against any one else, I'm confident I would make better results with the anti, but these guys knows exactly how to play against it, which is why it's not an advantage to me, and at the same time, I know there serves which probably helps me receving with inverted. With out those things, my results would hardly be the same with inverted, but I'm still tempted to try it out and will work with it to see if I can get some results with it.

As for the guy at the club, I think he would be able to challenge Biggy although he might not beat him, he would force him to work for his win. I've tried to study him, but the gap in level between us is simple to big and I also think that I'm aiming for a slightly more offesnive game then he is. The only timeI've ever seen him play offensive was when he faced another anti user. The first set lasted for ages with pushing all over the place, so in the second set, he decided to take the roll of the attacker and hammered the guy. Now, if I had a fh like him, I would use it more often then he does.

[speedplay]

Oh, any suggestions on a new bh rubber to use?

I think it needs to be medium in hardness, grippy and not tacky and have good speed. Not sure if it needs to be speed glue effect rubber, but I do know that it needs to be cheap!

[blocker]

Might also add, the results are purely against regular practice partners, against any one else, I'm confident I would make better results with the anti, but these guys knows exactly how to play against it, which is why it's not an advantage to me,

At the risk of going around in circles...above a certain (not so high) level virtually everyone knows exactly how to play against it. This is what I am trying say.  Whilst anti might have an impact on the level you currently playing, that level is not the level you should be aiming for.

The good anti player at your club sounds like he is an excellent defender/retriever but I would imagine he would get no actual advantage with the anti when he plays strong players (other than a certain ease it gives one when chopping loops). In fact, because the amount of backspin you can impart on the ball is limited it is likely the anti would be more of a liability. He would be forced to rely solely on his ability to get the ball back.

[speedplay]

At the risk of going around in circles...above a certain (not so high) level virtually everyone knows exactly how to play against it. This is what I am trying say.  Whilst anti might have an impact on the level you currently playing, that level is not the level you should be aiming for.

The good anti player at your club sounds like he is an excellent defender/retriever but I would imagine he would get no actual advantage with the anti when he plays strong players (other than a certain ease it gives one when chopping loops). In fact, because the amount of backspin you can impart on the ball is limited it is likely the anti would be more of a liability. He would be forced to rely solely on his ability to get the ball back.

I disagree, since a lot of player's who plays at a high level knows the theory on how to play against it, but still can't do it in a match. With high level, I'm talking about players slightly above Biggy and I've seen them struggle against material. While I agree that I can only generate mild spin with the anti, I can still achieve variation, which is the key point to me.
 
The player at my club have made some of the elite kids (age ~14-15) look like total noobs with his use of the anti. Off course, he is also a twiddler, so some of the deception is with in the twiddling. His main advantage compared to me is his ability to generate spin, which is far superior to mine, so the variation from him is much greater then the variation from me.
 
So I'm not giving up on the anti because of it's limitations, if I'm giving up on it, it is because I'm changing my game and want to be able to use my bh more agressively. The sad part is, I've so far become more defensive with a double invrted set up then I'm with anti   No doubt this is because the uncertainty I feel with the inverted bh at the moment.

[big ears]

The sad part is, I've so far become more defensive with a double invrted set up then I'm with anti   No doubt this is because the uncertainty I feel with the inverted bh at the moment.

 You have changed the tempo of your game, so some balls will be coming back quicker than you are used to, If I were you, I would do some drills involving random switching of wings. The point you make about the Anti player making some of the younger players look silly is a universal one, Younger players in general are poor against combination/defensive players, they lack the experience and patience.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

You have changed the tempo of your game, so some balls will be coming back quicker than you are used to, If I were you, I would do some drills involving random switching of wings. The point you make about the Anti player making some of the younger players look silly is a universal one, Younger players in general are poor against combination/defensive players, they lack the experience and patience.

What's this? Blocker and I agree on something! Wonders will never cease. 

It's funny/ironic that you should be defensive with an inverted BH Speedplay when the whole reason for trying he change is to be more attacking. When I give dual inverted a go I am aggressive as all get out with the BH, cos its the bit I miss about having that "power/ability" on the BH. Of course every shot needs to be measured so there is some chopping involved, especially as it takes time to adjust from LP (or in your case Anti). That video of Kreanga that Biggie put up is how I like to play with BH inverted (and yes Blocker of course being from Dandy, I do it much better  ), but seriously that type of stroke is what I've had to develop to hit with LP and my inverted strokes off the BH are far superior now to what they ever were before I went to LP. Just wish my body could support such a game, but I know it can't. But its what you should be aiming for. I wish you skill (not luck) in it.

[speedplay]

What's this? Blocker and I agree on something! Wonders will never cease. 

Perhaps this could be explained by the fact that it was Biggy who posted it and not Blocker?

It's funny/ironic that you should be defensive with an inverted BH Speedplay when the whole reason for trying he change is to be more attacking. When I give dual inverted a go I am aggressive as all get out with the BH, cos its the bit I miss about having that "power/ability" on the BH. Of course every shot needs to be measured so there is some chopping involved, especially as it takes time to adjust from LP (or in your case Anti). That video of Kreanga that Biggie put up is how I like to play with BH inverted (and yes Blocker of course being from Dandy, I do it much better  ), but seriously that type of stroke is what I've had to develop to hit with LP and my inverted strokes off the BH are far superior now to what they ever were before I went to LP. Just wish my body could support such a game, but I know it can't. But its what you should be aiming for. I wish you skill (not luck) in it.

I know, it is weird to change to something more offensive only to find that I'm becoming more defensive with it. Still, I'm sure things will change, but the main reason I'm defending more is that with anti, it is easier for me to set my self up for the fh attack and it is also easier for me to prevent my opponent from getting good oppurtunities to open up. With inverted, I have problems keeping my pushes short enough, so I allow them to open up which forces me to be more defensive. My bh is better then expected, but far to inconsistent at the moment. Some of the shots even make me go; Wow, did I do that??? But way to many of them ends up either in the net or off the table when I try to attack. My bh block and lob game works pretty well, but I don't want to change to play that kind of game, I want to be more offensive.

[blocker]

I know, it is weird to change to something more offensive only to find that I'm becoming more defensive with it. Still, I'm sure things will change, but the main reason I'm defending more is that with anti, it is easier for me to set my self up for the fh attack and it is also easier for me to prevent my opponent from getting good oppurtunities to open up. With inverted, I have problems keeping my pushes short enough, so I allow them to open up which forces me to be more defensive. My bh is better then expected, but far to inconsistent at the moment. Some of the shots even make me go; Wow, did I do that??? But way to many of them ends up either in the net or off the table when I try to attack. My bh block and lob game works pretty well, but I don't want to change to play that kind of game, I want to be more offensive.

Even so, I don't think there is anything wrong with being defensive using inverted both sides. Takashima did it and he wasn't too bad  . Two of the big problems using anti are that (1) if you push a push you are in trouble; (2) if you are back chopping you can't chop heavy or get variation. With inverted you have the choice of either pushing/chopping heavy or floating and a float is a crucial weapon in a choppers arsenal. Also, the inverted gives you more options - you can loop, block, lob, and controlled topspin retrieves back from the table.   

Also, the problem of not being able to keep your pushes short enough should disappear with a bit of practice. After all, if you can't learn to push short you really are in trouble! 

[blocker]

I disagree, since a lot of player's who plays at a high level knows the theory on how to play against it, but still can't do it in a match. With high level, I'm talking about players slightly above Biggy and I've seen them struggle against material. While I agree that I can only generate mild spin with the anti, I can still achieve variation, which is the key point to me.
 
The player at my club have made some of the elite kids (age ~14-15) look like total noobs with his use of the anti. Off course, he is also a twiddler, so some of the deception is with in the twiddling. His main advantage compared to me is his ability to generate spin, which is far superior to mine, so the variation from him is much greater then the variation from me.

I agree that a lot of juniors can initially struggle against anti but I find it difficult to believe that someone around BE's standard and experience could be bothered by it (it's just so damned easy to play against! ). Of course I could be wrong on this so I would be interested to hear BE's opinion.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

Perhaps this could be explained by the fact that it was Biggy who posted it and not Blocker?


Ah, thanks. I had just woken up lol, but that would explain it.

I know, it is weird to change to something more offensive only to find that I'm becoming more defensive with it. Still, I'm sure things will change, but the main reason I'm defending more is that with anti, it is easier for me to set my self up for the fh attack and it is also easier for me to prevent my opponent from getting good oppurtunities to open up. With inverted, I have problems keeping my pushes short enough, so I allow them to open up which forces me to be more defensive. My bh is better then expected, but far to inconsistent at the moment. Some of the shots even make me go; Wow, did I do that??? But way to many of them ends up either in the net or off the table when I try to attack. My bh block and lob game works pretty well, but I don't want to change to play that kind of game, I want to be more offensive.

This makes some sense to me as I know it takes time to adjust hitting with inverted to hitting with LP. The first few always fly long by a mile until I "tune" it in. If you are stroking well enough to surprise yourself with some awesome shots then I think its just a matter of honing up the skill and bedding in the stroke. I think it is quite difficult to mix the play up between a powerful inverted BH and a "deader" rubber like LP or Anti.  Always takes some adjusting for me to move from one to the other, although maybe if it was done often enough it could be gotten used to.  So depends on how you feel, but it might be best for your game to stick with one (which you've already said will be anti) until season over and then change and practice heaps with the other.

[speedplay]

I agree that a lot of juniors can initially struggle against anti but I find it difficult to believe that someone around BE's standard and experience could be bothered by it (it's just so damned easy to play against! ). Of course I could be wrong on this so I would be interested to hear BE's opinion.

If you think it is easy to play against, then you haven't faced the right opponent

The player in our club have beaten player's of Biggy's standard and pushed a couple of other player's in that level.

I remember Biggy mentioning something about practising against some one who used Juic Neo Anti, and if I'm not mistaken, Biggy struggled some against it, but I would also like to read his opinion about this.
 
Reb, if I'm going to feel confident about moving to regular inverted, I think I need to practice a lot with it, which is why I'll try to keep it up during the season and use regular inverted for ~50% of the time in practice. If it becomes a huge success, I might end up using it earlier and if it turns out to be a failure, I might give up on the idea all together.

[blocker]

The player in our club have beaten player's of Biggy's standard and pushed a couple of other player's in that level.

I remember Biggy mentioning something about practising against some one who used Juic Neo Anti, and if I'm not mistaken, Biggy struggled some against it, but I would also like to read his opinion about this.

I don't doubt that an anti player could push players of BE's standard - I'm sure he is a very classy defender. I was just questioning whether the anti itself would bother a player of BE's level. To be honest I am not familiar with Juic Neo Anti so it may have some new-fangled magical properties but there is nothing mystical about the antis I have played against.

[speedplay]

In that case, I agree with you, anti or LP alone wont post a treat to Biggy or any one at his level, but in the hands of a skilled player, it can be very dangerous even at that level.

I usually divide it in to two groups, LP/Anti users and LP/Anti players. The users are the one's who win's points from their opponents inability to handle the rubber, while the player's are the ones who use the rubber to create their own deception. To threat a player of Biggy's level, you need to be a player, but at lower level's, you can get away with being a user. Me, I'm probably more of a user at the moment, but I have tried to develop into a player which have given me some newly found advantages, but I'm still not sure which path to take. I do like the idea of using odd material, but at the same time, I like being able to attack from both wings, with out risk being caught with the wrong rubber on the attacking wing.

[big ears]

There are none, not a single player In the top 100 in England who plays with anti, and not many who play with any pips at all, infact I know just about everyone in that standard and I can only think of 3 players in our top 100, one is in my BR/league team, who play with pips. When you get below 150ish there are loads of them, which should tell everyone something. IMO its a matter of balance, the 40mm ball swung the advantage more than it already was, to the Attacker, but spinless pips regained some ground for the defensive guys, so what do they do? ban them to swing in favour of the attacker again, banning sp/glue helped to swing things back a little, but basically, the 40mm ball is much harder for a defensive player to keep an attacker 'out' the spin variation is less, and the ball sits up more invitingly to be hit/looped away.

[speedplay]

I agree, it says a lot then none of the top 100players uses anti or pips. I also agree that the bigger ball favoured the attacker, but, unlike you, I actually think that the speed glue ban also favoured the attacker. With speed glue, the ball was faster and carried more spin and while the speed made it harder for defenders, the amount of spin actually helped them make heavy chops. And, the biggest let down of them all, most defenders today play a modern defensive style, with fh attacks as a part of their game. Now, a double inverted player who lost speed due to the ban could move on to a faster blade and while still losing out some on the spin, he had his speed back. The defender on the other hand often wants one side of his bat to be slow and the other side fast, so changing the blade to get more speed on his fh wouldmean sacrificing some of the control on his bh. Thus, making the speed glue ban even worse for the defender.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

You make a good point Speedplay, but I'm glad I never used speedglue so I don't suffer from the issue. I have indeed sought out more speed on my FH though and so have gone for the faster Gergely after a period of EJing which you witnessed on the forum. During this "seeking" and "finding" period I also had to find a LP rubber which would tame the BH side of the blade well enough to serve my defensive characteristics on that side as well. I was tempted along the way to switch again to a dual speed blade, but having found the Gergely and loving it so much I decided to keep seeking just the cheaper option of an LP that could handle speed and spin on the fast blade. And I didn't even go for the renowned slow Xying 979 because it wasn't a simple case of needing a slow LP because I also wanted to be able to generate some pace as I developed my LP attacking game. I settled on Meteor 8512 for 18 months until Pogo came along. I'm still not convinced Pogo is the total endpoint, but it is the best I've found to serve a seemingly conflicting goal of a rubber slow enough to tame attacks at my BH without them flying away every time, yet fast enough to be able to hit with some pace (and not break pips easily like 1615 is known for). The ITTF must have made it very hard for people who were set in their game for years. I think I'm somewhat lucky not to have returned to TT until all this writing was on the wall!

[blocker]

I have indeed sought out more speed on my FH though and so have gone for the faster Gergely after a period of EJing which you witnessed on the forum. During this "seeking" and "finding" period I also had to find a LP rubber which would tame the BH side of the blade well enough to serve my defensive characteristics on that side as well.

Reb, great news! Scientists have just invented something which will help you 'tame the BH side of your blade'! It's called 'touch'. I'm going out to buy some asap! 

[RebornTTEvnglist]

Funny about that blocker, here I am having developed it over the years and now you tell me I can just buy it! Sheezzzz!!   

You don't play LP I gather blocker.

[blocker]

You don't play LP I gather blocker.

I had a few hits with it yonks ago Reb but didn't like it much. Basically I have an ok BH for my standard but a crappy FH so it would make no sense to use LP. Does the bat really make that much difference to you when using LP? Why don't you just adjust your technique? or if you bat is too fast for the LP then just use a slower bat? I fear I have much to learn about this equipment caper but sometimes it seems a bit 'Princess and the Pea' to me.

[speedplay]

Blocker, I agree with you to some degree. There are EJ's who will always swear by the latest blade/rubber and there are EJ's who claim they feel a huge difference between a red and a black sheet of Mark V.

How ever, there is some truth to all of this EJ maniac and every now and then, there comes a new rubber or blade that actually suits you better then other rubbers/blades. For me, T05 works on excellent on my fh, better then anything else I've tried. When it comes to blades, Wavestone is that magic blade for me and while there might be other blades that are as good, why search when I found something that is perfect for me, and at a very affordable price?

[RebornTTEvnglist]

I had a few hits with it yonks ago Reb but didn't like it much. Basically I have an ok BH for my standard but a crappy FH so it would make no sense to use LP. Does the bat really make that much difference to you when using LP? Why don't you just adjust your technique? or if you bat is too fast for the LP then just use a slower bat? I fear I have much to learn about this equipment caper but sometimes it seems a bit 'Princess and the Pea' to me.

Like Speedplay said, there is a certain degree of just getting used to something in equipment. I used to use an unknown blade and Tackiness C and D on it. I acquired this setup 2nd hand around the age of 15. It had a great feel to it, although not knowing much about equipment I didn't appreciate how good the feel was. When I stopped playing competitive TT around 20 my bat just hung around in its cover and was pulled out for the occasional social hit, or more likely I'd end up using whoever's bat, wherever I was playing. But in all my moves around the place I never lost it. Came back to TT after 20 years off and used the same bat. Rubbers were a bit dead but still playable and the bat still had its wonderful feel. The power I could generate with it was huge as the setup weighed just over 200g, but hard to harness as the rubbers grip wasn't so great. I played at another club to Dandy and won the prem in Div 4 there in 1st season. Then came the Xmas shut-down and I had the TT bug again. So I started hunting for a replacement setup for my 25+ year old setup. I also read about vege oil rejuvinating rubbers and gave that a try but over-did it and basically wrecked the rubbers. I tried taking them off the blade so I could put new ones on, but the old sponge was so hard set I pretty much wrecked the blade trying and never got the sponge off completely. So I had no choice but to find a new setup. Never really did find anything to replicate my old setup's feel, but I kept seeking things to find something closer to what it felt like. The variation in feel between setups is huge. I changed to LP after reading about it on forums and thinking it might suit my game and have never really looked back after almost 3 years with it now. With the amount of equipment I have tried and the difference in characteristics, I don't agree its as stark as the "princess and the pea" story with TT equipment, but I do think people often don't really know what they are looking for and EJ incessantly for the sake of it. What I use now I think probably doesn't feel anything like the old bat I had, but I like the feel of it and it suits me. The game is highly mental and getting the right feel about it is not dissimilar to anything else like golf clubs, tennis rackets, cricket bats etc. If you aren't too "into" the sport you won't be too discerning and use anything, but once you get "into" it, you try to find what suits you best.

[blocker]

How ever, there is some truth to all of this EJ maniac and every now and then, there comes a new rubber or blade that actually suits you better then other rubbers/blades. For me, T05 works on excellent on my fh, better then anything else I've tried. When it comes to blades, Wavestone is that magic blade for me and while there might be other blades that are as good, why search when I found something that is perfect for me, and at a very affordable price?

Speedy I dont doubt that some bats/rubbers can suit a player but I am dubious about the extent to which it aids their game - especially amongst non-elite players (we will exclude the broad difference of using LP to smooth here). Of course we have been through all this before so I wont rehash it. I will however add a fresh observation. In this forum (which I enjoy) there has been so much written about bats and rubbers - what they are good for, how they help certain types of styles or strokes, how important it is to have a hard outer layer on a 7 ply bat if one is using tacky rubber, how certain LP's don't go with certain carbon blades etc. etc.- but amazingly I have read virtually nothing about stuff like technique or practice drills - and it is these things which have 1000 times greater impact on a non-elite players game than the equipment they use.

In any case, its all fun so just forgive me if I make the occasional EJ quip.